����AV

It is trite law that the Tribunal may examine its own jurisdiction on its own initiative (see, for instance, the Appeals Tribunal in O’Neill 2011-UNAT-182 and Barud 2020-UNAT-998). The Tribunal notes that pursuant to art. 3.1 of the Dispute Tribunal’s Statute, access to the Tribunal is limited to staff members and, under certain conditions, former staff members and persons making claims in the name of an incapacitated or deceased staff member. Staff regulation 4.1 provides that a person only becomes a United Nations staff member after they are issued a letter of appointment. However, it is jurisprudentially established that, under certain circumstances, a person who has not yet been issued a letter of appointment is entitled to seek recourse within the internal justice system, provided that he/she satisfied all the conditions of an offer of appointment (Gabaldon 2011-UNAT-120). Under the consistent jurisprudence of the Appeals Tribunal, an applicant to is identify the impugned administrative decision with sufficient precision to enable the Dispute Tribunal to review it (see, for instance, Planas 2010-UNAT-049 and Haydar 2018-UNAT-821). The Appeals Tribunal, however, has held that with self-represented applicants, it will “take a generous approach and examine those allegations, which can be interpreted as falling into the scope of Article 2(1) of the Appeals Tribunal Statute”.